How India used Dhoni’s CSK strategy to bundle Australia
India elected to use the Chennai model for their World Cup opener match against Australia because they have three elite spinners in their lineup, namely Jadeja, Ashwin, and Kuldeep Yadav.
Ravindra Jadeja left the locker room an hour and a half before the Sunday toss and went directly to the square where India’s support staff were closely inspecting the field. He pointed out the locations in the strip that were already thrilling him as he joyfully high-fived Hardik Pandya as he marched down from one end to the other. Despite all the hoopla, it was Jadeja who truly felt as though R Ashwin was returning home. Jadeja is so familiar to the traditional MA Chidambaram Stadium wicket, where the ball grips and twists so swiftly that the entering batters have no time to adjust to the pace of the pitch.
Jadeja was spotted motioning for Rohit Sharma to give him the ball at one point when R Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav were repeatedly getting the ball to rip off the surface and beating the batsmen. He is the best person to know what he is capable of doing on such a track.
The Chennai Super Kings follow a blueprint created by MS Dhoni for the two months of the IPL each year. They have many of tweakers in their team, so they can roll out grounds that are very helpful for their three spinners, especially those who bowl in line with the stumps. With the exception of the recently finished IPL, where CSK chose flat decks from the outset, it is a pattern that has been extremely successful for them.
It’s not like the conditions would make Australia blind. They must have predicted this since they arrived here on Tuesday. Over the past week, they have come here for practice sessions and witnessed a layer of grass being cut each time. They even roughed up the practice fields to make their batsmen front up to spinners as part of their ongoing preparation for a turner. The pitch behaved as it should have because there was no dew in the air and it had gotten very little water in the three days before the game.
The CSK fans can get thrilled here with just one ball, after all. Stephen Fleming would jump in the dugout during an IPL game in 2020 when Jadeja got one to spin, later stating, “We were excited when we saw Jadeja turn one.” Typically, one glimpse is sufficient. It was Ashwin’s wicked undercut carrom ball that swung in before breaking abruptly away from Steve Smith on Sunday night. Smith stared at a swirling cloud of dust with goggles on. Jadeja was watching and waving his arms around theatrically; he must have realized at that moment that this might be his day.
Jadeja, Ashwin, and Kuldeep Yadav are three elite spinners, hence India decided to use the Chennai system for their World Cup opener against Australia. And the three was responsible for breaking Australia’s back as India appeared to have the winning recipe for the World Cup. The tracks that India chose when the pitches were first released appeared to point toward such a tendency, but India originally bowed to pressure to maintain “balance” in their squad and didn’t select Ashwin or Yuzvendra Chahal. Finally, they reversed course and got Ashwin back.
The total numbers for the three spinners were 30-3-104-6, with Jadeja being the most frugal, conceding only 28 runs in 10 overs and taking three wickets, including Steve Smith, who caused an unbelievable collapse that saw Australia fall from 110/2 to 140/7. It appeared ideal as “Dhoni, Dhoni” chants resounded throughout the stands.
I play for CSK, therefore I am familiar with the surroundings, Jadeja stated. “When I first saw the pitch, I estimated that I should take 2–3 wickets. Fortunately, I took 3 wickets, and I’m overjoyed. You never know which ball is going straight and which one is turning; the odd one was turning and I was simply switching up the pace as I was attempting to bowl into the stumps,” he continued.
And Jadeja was the one to benefit from some of the hard work that Jasprit Bumrah, Ashwin, and Kuldeep put in. When David Warner and Smith put up a 69-run partnership for the second wicket, it became clear that India would struggle to chase down any total over 250 with the lights on. In the beginning of their stint, Ashwin and Kuldeep were a little slow through the air, but they quickly changed their speed and started bowling a little quicker. While Jadeja found the most natural length and speed to bowl in these conditions, Kuldeep did provide the opening by dismissing Warner with a bad shot.
As the dot balls accumulated, it became obvious that this was going to become a game of “who blinks first.” Jadeja regained control of the situation off his fifth over 45 boundary-filled deliveries later, with Smith and Marnus Labuschagne showing no signs of throwing it away. After giving up 15 runs in his first four overs, Jadeja was starting to get a little meaner when he got rid of Smith.
Smith’s defense was breached by Jadeja in the most stunning way, which seemed to have set off a panic button in the Australian locker room. Smith had pushed his way to 46 off 71 deliveries by showing the kind of patience to stay on this pitch in the hope of creating a platform where Glenn Maxwell and Cameron Green could get some quick runs later on.
The ball was pitched in the line of the middle and leg stumps and spun quickly to strike the top of the off-stump in a classic Jadeja dismissal. Jadeja uses this line and length while bowling the red ball, and on this pitch with so much support, he wasn’t going to blow the opportunity. Smith was aiming his bat in the direction of the ball’s landing rather than its direction of travel. As Australia started to falter, Jadeja then eliminated Labuschagne and Alex Carey in a span of two deliveries.
In the subsequent overs, Kuldeep and Ashwin returned to dismiss Maxwell and Green, saving Australia from being bowled out for a subpar total. From their lower order of 140/7, which includes Cummins, Mitchell Starc led them to 199, a target that sparked the action.
